Professional Maternity Care Support Course (QQI Level 5 Minor Award)

The objective of this programme is to provide an introduction to the application, theory, and practice of maternity care support.    

Day 1 -  Introduction

• Overview of maternity care and terminology.
• Working in maternity care.
• Philosophy of maternity care.
• The organisation of maternity care in Ireland.
• UNICEF baby-friendly initiative.
• Discussion on points in the handout.

Day 2

• Common admissions to ante natal ward, labor ward, postnatal ward, and S.C.B.U.
• National Maternity Strategy.
• Discussed Harvard referencing.
• Discussed presentation of written and practical assignments.
• Gave out written assignment titles.

Day 3

• Discussed Mother and Infant Care Scheme and maternity leave.
• The impact of prematurity and babies with congenital abnormalities.
• Coping with pregnancy loss in miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonatal death.
• Breast and bottle feeding and the role of the care attendant in this.
• WHO regulations regarding infant feeding.

Day 4

• Security measures and infection control in the hospital.
• Care of the isolated patient.
• Storage and use of bed linen.
• Disposal of dirty and infected linen.
• Blood and urine testing.
• Clinical incident reporting.
• Showed videos related to skills demonstrations.

Day 5

• Skills demonstrations.
• Skills assignments given to students.
• Students practise skills.

Day 6

• Students carry out skill assignments and self-evaluation sheets.

At the end of the course you will:

• Discuss the philosophy of maternity care
• Examine how certain elements of maternity care enhance the experience of mothers, babies and the family, to include nonjudgmental attitudes, individualised care, consistent information, good communication and advice and choice
• Summarise the physical, emotional and social needs of the mother during the ante partum, intra partum and post partum periods
• Discuss the benefits of breastfeeding while allowing for individual choice
• Investigate the importance of infection prevention and control in the maternity care setting 2
• Examine the special needs of the family unit when a baby is diagnosed with a congenital abnormality
• Describe the grief process in those affected by miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death or maternal death
• Explore the impact of relevant current legislation and World Health Organisation (WHO) programmes on maternity care
• Identify particular safety and security procedures in maternity care such as application and checking identity tags and operation of security systems to ensure security of babies
• Give assistance to mothers in caring for themselves and their babies, to include the mother's personal hygiene and comfort, baby hygiene, positioning, handling and feeding
• Demonstrate a range of clinically related skills, to include preparation of clinical areas and trolleys for maternal and infant care and procedures, assistance of clinical staff during physical examination, measuring, testing and recording urine and reporting changes in mothers and babies condition to the midwife
• Execute cleaning of and care for general and specialist equipment such as beds, mattresses, cots, bedpans, incubators, resuscitation equipment, theatre equipment and feeding equipment
• Maintain stock levels of specialist maternity stores and equipment
• Execute appropriate responses to identified emergency situations experienced by mother or baby to include reporting, patient positioning and clearing of an airway 15 Employ the terminology used in the maternity care setting.